It’s more than the spot

Correct setup is what makes a fishing hole

Fishermen are notorious for collecting fishing spots. This varies from the perfect point of marsh or bulkhead for catching inshore or freshwater species to an offshore ledge in the middle of nowhere that always holds the baitfish that bottomfish and king mackerel feed upon. It isn’t a disease, but it is epidemic. Even worse, those fishermen who don’t have it usually want it.

Like just about everyone else, I’m into collecting spots to fish. Many years ago, eight fishermen that got along well made copies of their Loran Logs — that will tell you how long ago it was — and one entered the waypoints into a base file. That base file had more than 8,000 ocean waypoints between Little River and Ocracoke. Purging the waypoints by 20 microseconds cut the number in half, but the Loran Books made still contained more than 4,000 waypoints.

I was talking with one of those fishermen a few weeks ago, and he said he had accumulated several hundred more waypoints in the same area and wondered if everyone would be interested in doing it again. I told him I wasn’t opposed to it, but I hadn’t made a dent in fishing the spots we already had, plus, I had accumulated more, too.

Later in the conversation, he made a statement that immediately struck me as profound. It was simple enough, but contained a bushel of wisdom. “You know, having all these waypoints is nice, but what would help even more is knowing how to fish them,” he said.

What a mouthful! While I had always thought something along this line, I had never heard it said quite so simply and well. Knowing how to fish a spot is of the utmost importance, as some will not produce or only marginally produce when approached incorrectly. Knowing how to fish a spot also includes when. Many spots only produce at certain stages of the tide, and fishing there at other times can be extremely frustrating.

I believe this is most important in inshore waters, but it will translate easily enough to locations in the ocean. When fishing from my boat, I can position myself just about anywhere in relation to a fishing spot and the tide. The way I position myself to fish a spot will almost always vary according to the direction of the tide and sometimes its velocity.

When fishing the bottom, I prefer to be positioned so I am casting slightly upcurrent and sweeping the lure back across the spot. The angle will vary with the velocity of the tide, and the velocity changes based on the stage of the tide. Early and late in the tide, the current moves more slowly, and the angle can be more perpendicular. As the tidal flow increases during the middle of the tide, the angle needs to be shallower, so the current doesn’t move the bait too fast or pull it off your intended path.

When fishing the surface or the mid-depths, I prefer to be working across and downcurrent to sweep the lure across the spot. Much like when fishing the bottom, the angle can be perpendicular when the tide or current is moving slowly, and the casting angle should shallow up as the tidal flow increases. With a live bait suspended under a cork, if I can position upcurrent without crossing the spot, I will often anchor directly upcurrent and slowly float the bait back across the spot.

Casting angles can be adjusted by lengthening or shortening the amount of anchor rope out. Small adjustments can also be made by moving the tie point for the anchor line from the point of the bow to a cleat a few feet farther back, where the boat has flared out. This will tend to plane the boat towards the side opposite where it is tied. Turning the steering wheel will also help position the boat.

The “Rule of Twelfths” is a term used to describe the variations in current flow during a rising or falling tide, based on the tide changing approximately every six hours. The Rule of Twelfths states that 1/12 of the water that will move during a tide moves during the first hour. The flow for the second hour increases to 2/12. The tide flows strongest for the third and fourth hour, with 3/12 of the water moving each hour. In the fifth hour, the tide begins to slow, and only 2/12 of the water moves. The final hour is much like the first; the flow slows to moving 1/12 of the water.

The Rule of Twelfths is crucial in all tidal waters inside the inlets and for a few miles into the ocean. Around the inlets, the movement of bait and therefore, the prime feeding times, are controlled by the tide moving in and out the inlet.

This is a pretty reliable gauge most of the time. The one thing I have seen is during lunar tides around the new and full moons, the tide will run stronger later in the change. The reason this is important is to position yourself so the bait or lure moves across whatever is holding the fish in as natural a manner as possible. When it looks real, fish are more inclined to bite it, and more bites should translate into more fish caught.

In the ocean, tide and wind direction do not always line up. Sometimes there is some trial and error in getting the best approach and positioning. Because the water is deeper, it usually isn’t critical not to cross over the spot you intend to fish unless there is a school of bait or fish holding directly over it. The key is to position the boat so the baits trail back or drop to the fish on that structure.

Many times, bottom-dwelling, ocean species are oriented to a particular rock, reef or wreck for protection as well as food and will not stray from it. In this situation, a miss of even several feet may be the difference between catching and thinking no one is home. The boat must be positioned upcurrent or upwind — and sometimes a combination of the two — so the baits will drop to the hungry fish. When fishing for mid-depth or surface fish, the boat can be positioned upcurrent from the structure and chum deployed to get the fish’s attention and lead them to the baits.

These are only a couple of examples, but hopefully they prove the point that knowing how and when to fish a spot is every bit as important as knowing where that spot is. Good fishing.